Container and parts therefor



May 18, 1943 P. ZALKIND CONTAINER AND PARTS THEREFOR Filed June 2, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet l F|GURE.1.

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PHILIP ZALKIND INVENTOR ibnus zw y' BY ATTORNEY May 18, 1943 P. ZALKIND CONTAINER AND PARTS THEREFOR Filed June 2, 1838 i 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIGURE-1.5.

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PHILIP ZALKIND INVENTOR FIGURE ,n, M

ATTORNEY Patented May 18, 1943 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CONTAINER AND'PARTS THEREFOR Philip Zalkind, New York, N. Y. Application June 2, 1938, Serial No. 211,384

1 Claim. (Cl. 308-6) 906, issued Mar. 4, 1941, and may be strengthened, if necessary, at the rear by the inset back construction set forth in my copending Patent 2,159,070, issued May 23, 1937; the drawer being formed as described in my Patent No. 1,946,516.

When the casing and drawer combination is to be used as a transfer file for storage of records and papers or for any other purpose involving the loading of the drawer with relatively heavy material, the movement of, the drawer may be impeded by the friction developed between the bottom of the drawer and the floor of the casing. Accordingly, in my copending application Serial No. 693,841, filed October 16, 1933, I have provided anti-friction means for reducing the friction between casing and drawer and easing the drawer movement into and out of the casing. Also, in m copending Patent No.

2,200,319, issued May 15, 1940, I have provided for a further development of said anti-friction means specifically directed to maintaining the bottom of the drawer out 'of contact with the bottom of the casing member and other similar means have been provided by me in my copending Patent No. 2,142,166, issued Jan. 3, 1939.

Where the casing and drawer members are formed primarily of fibrous materials, any means which it is desired to utilize in the provisions of anti-friction devices to facilitate the movemerit of the loaded drawer into and out of the casing must be so constructed that the flexibility,

light, weight, and economy of paper board, corrugated. board, and other like materials may be retained, with means to provide against obvious deficiencies and limitations of such materials.

Objects of my invention, therefore, are to equip such casing and drawer cabinets with ball-bearing and/or roller bearing means novel reinforcing and strengthening means cooperating with the anti-friction means; andnevertheless retaining the quality of collapsibility.

Other objects and uses of my invention will be apparent and indicated in the following description and drawings in which:

Figure 1 is an isometric view of a casing, parts cut away, showing a modified type of anti-friction means or free roller construction.

Figures 2 and 3 are isometric views of a drawer member intended to cooperate with the casing of Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the cooperation of the casing and drawer parts of Figures 1, 2 and 3.

Figure 5 is a, view in perspective of the inset rail of Figures 1 and 4.

Figure 6 is a view in perspective of a modified form of the inset rail construction'of Figure 5.

Figure 7 is, a cross-sectional view taken on the line 1-1 of Figures 5 and 6 looking in the direction of the arrow.

Figure 8 is a cross-sectional View taken on the line 88 of Figures 6 and '7 looking in the direction of the arrow.

Figure 9 is a'persp'ective view of a modified form of the inset rail of Figure 5.

Figure 10 is a perspective view of a modified form of the inset rail and track of Figure 5.

Figure 11 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line ||I| of Figure 10 looking in the direction of the arrow.

Figure 12 is in part a cross-sectional view taken on the line |2-|2 of Figure 10 looking in the direction of the arrow and showing also in cross-section a bottom rail of a drawer designed to cooperate with this construction.

In Figure 1 I have illustrated a preferred form of my ball bearing anti-friction arrangement mounted in the floor of a casing member or outer shell 40 of a filing cabinet combination. Inset rails 4|, 4| mounted on the floor 42 of the casing 40 extend from the front edge reinforcement 43 to the rear wall 44. Preferably,lsuch inset rails will be mounted adjacent the vertical side walls of the casing and parallel thereto. As will be more clearly seen in Figure 4, each of the inset rails 4| has inturned flanges 45 adapted to engage the outwardly extending flanges 46 of the truck 47, thus limiting the lateralmovement of such truck with respect to the inset rail while permitting a movement along the inset rail. The free edges of the flanges-45 may be spaced apart a sufficient distance to barely permit a clearance between such edges of the; flanges 45 and the sides 48 of the truck 41, thus further tending to limit lateral movement of the truck with relation to the inset rail.

The upper surface 49 of the truck 41 carries a series of perforations 50. Ball bearings 5| are mounted between the base 52 of the inset rail 4| and the upper surface 49 of the truck 41 in such a manner that such ball bearings 5| rest upon the base 52 and project through the perforations 50, The ball bearings 5| are preferably so dimensioned that their diameter is greater than that of the perforations 50; therefore, although a portion of each ball-bearing will protrude.

through a perforation, all of the ball bearings will nevertheless be captured and held between the truck and the inset rail.

Accidental removal of the truck 4'! from the inset rail 4| may be prevented by depressing the end portions (Figure 5) of the inturned flanges 45 of the inset rail 4| so that a complete ball bearing unit is thus formed. Where the front end of the inset rail 4| is to abut against the front edge reinforcement 43 (Figure 1), such pressing down of the corners 53 may be unnecessary at the said front end since the edge 54 of said reinforcement will provide an abutment preventing the truck from sliding out of the rail at that point. Instead of depressing the endportions 53, plugs of metal or other suitable material may be provided at each end of the inset rail 4| to prevent accidental removal of the truck 41, or'(as in Figure 6), a projection may be formed up, as 55, in the base 52, or (as in Figure 9) a bar 56 may be utilized to accomplish thi result.

It will now be obvious that whena drawer 51 such as that shown in Figures 2 and 3, is placed in the casing (in the manner illustrated in Figure 4) its base 58 will rest only on the ball bearings 5| and will not come into contact with the floor 42 of the casing 40. An anti-friction ball bearing is thus provided between the floor 42 of the casing and the base 58 of the drawer 51; any motion of the drawer 51 backward or forward within the casing 40 being transmitted to the ball bearings 5| which will thereupon roll along the base 52 of the inset rail 4| and thus reduce the friction of the free rollers or ball bearings 5|.

It will be noted that the only function the truck or cage 41 performs is to capture and space the ball bearings 5| in predeterminedarrangement, the inturned flanges 45 of the inset rail 4| capturing and guiding the truck.

Where the casing and drawer is made of fibrous sheet material such as, for instance, corrugated board, the hardness of the ball bearings 5| and the relative softness of the material of the drawer 51 would quickly cause the ball bearings 5| to dig into the material of the drawer thus serving to anchor thedrawer within thecasing rather than facilitating the movement thereof. Accordingly, I have found itadvantageous when such ball bearing means are used with fibrous structures, to provide abottom reinforcement for the drawer which may consist of metallic strips fastened to the bottom thereof in any suitable manner, such strips being wide enough to ensure their registering with the ball bearings 5| of the casing By this means, the ball bearings 5| will ride between metal thus preventing the anchoring above mentioned.

Where a hard rolled steel is usedfor the base 52 of the inset rails 4| and for the bottom strip of the drawer above described, the base 52 of the inset rail 4| may be flat and the aforementioned bottom strip may be merely a flat strip of metal; since such steel will not be dented or deformed by the pressure of the ball bearings. And, .inany case where the load in the drawer is intended to be such that no deformation of the bearing surfaces may occur or where the materials used are of sufficient hardness, no special formations will be necessary. 7 i I I have found, however, that a specialformation of the surfaces against which the ball bearings are pressed will permit the use of relatively thin,

soft metal or other material for such bearing surfaces. Thus, the base 52 of the inset rail 4| may be deformed so that a groove 59 (of Figure 4 and Figs. 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9) is formed therein extending the length of the inset rail 4 The ball bearings 5|, instead of then pressing against a flat surface within which they may possibly create a dent or depression and within which they may thus be anchored, will now ride upon the lip 60; the contact will be a double one, rather than a concentration of all the weight of the bearing on a single surface; and thereby, the efficiency and smoothness of operation of the ball-bearing antifriction means will be increased.

While I have shown such groove 59 with a V- shaped section, I may use a groove of any crosssection which will provid a pair of parallel lips fiflfor the ball bearings to rest upon. And, for reasons hereinafter set forth, I may in all cases prefer a groove of U-shaped section or of rectangular section. I a

Likewise, instead of merely mounting a metallic strip along the bottom of the drawer, a rail 6| may be provided along the bottom of the drawer (Figs. 2 and 3) and may be so positioned as to register with the ball bearings and the inset rails in the floor of the casing when the drawer in inserted in the casing. Such rail (cf. alsoFig. 4) will consist of a channel having two legs 63, 64; theU of the channel has a groove 55 associated with extruded flanges 66 and 61, where (as is seen in Fig. 4) the ball bearings 5| may be guided, with two bearing points being provided for the ball bearing upon the drawer rail. The two bearing points or lines on the flanges 66 and filmay be further reinforced by the double thickness of metal at the bearing points as is shown more clearly in Figure 4. r

The rail 6| may be fastened over the flanges of a drawer along the juncture between the side walls and the bottom walls. 7

It will likewise be seen that the casing member shown in Figure 1 will also be collapsible for fiat shipment, with the inset rail and free roller bearing arrangement in place upon the floor thereof. I have found that in a full size casing of the so-called legal size, suificient support and bearing surface is furnished by ball bearings 5| having a diameter of less than one quarter of an inch; so that the height of the entire inset rail and ball bearing assembly above the floor of the casing will be, in the usual casing, even less than the thickness of the fibrous material, such as corrugated board of which the casing is formed. Collapsibility is thus in no way interfered with in my construction. Also, where the material used for the casing is of a fibrous nature and therefore flexible, the ball bearing means and. associated structures may be much larger withoutinterfering with collapsibility. And in all cases, the formation of the score lines (for instance bar scores) may be such as to insure collapsibility.

The inset-rail 4| may be mounted in the floor of the casing member in various ways: Thus (Fig. 4), material may be stripped out from the floor of the casing 42 and the groove 59 (cf. also Figure 5) may be positioned in such stripped outline, the inset rail being adhesively attached to the bottom of the casing; or where the material forming the casing is of a flexible or compressible nature, the under surface of the inset rail may be coated with adhesive and pressed into the floor 42 of the casing along the proper lines. Or (cf. Figs. 6 and 8), prongs 10 may be excised from the portion of the inset rail forming the groove 59; the inset rail may be pressed into or mounted in the floor 4210f the casing, the prongs lflextending through such :floor and'b'ein thereafter bent over to clinch against the opposite surface of such bottom member 42 and hold the inset rail in place. The prongs in such case must be of sufiicient length to go through the floor 42 and be bent over to serve as an attaching means. Or such prongs may merely serve to position the inset rail, adhesive means being used to actually bind the rail in place. or such prongs, where the material of the casing is relatively weak, may be clinched over an anchoring or bearing plate on the opposite surface of the floor 42. Other means of mounting the inset rail in place will be obvious.

It will also be obvious that the greatest convenience, strength and utility of such inset rail is obtained by making the groove 59 of U shaped or rectangular section. The groove will thus fill up any stripped out portion of the floor of the easing, the lips 6|] being given added support by the subjacent fibrous material. Prongs T may be more conveniently driven from the material of the groove and will enter atright angles to the floor. Also, where the groove is pressed into the material of the floor of the casing, a' groove of such shape will be more efiicacious for the purpose.

When such inset rail is in place upon the floor 42 of the casing, it is also apparent that it serves a reinforcing or stiffening means for said floor; and particularly by reason of its V or U-shaped or rectangular cross-section and the insertion of such section in the floor of the casing, serves to immeasurably strengthen said floor. Likewise, because of the stiffness thus obtained, the operation of the true roller of ball bearing means is made more efficient.

Such inlet or. recessed member may be used in a similar manner for reinforcement of other portions of the container or other walls or surfaces and to prevent warping thereof. Thus, a member having a recessed groove entering the material of the wall may be mounted on the wall with the groove running in any desired direction with relation to the boundaries of the wall. Side walls of a casing may be reinforced by inset or recessed members mounted therein and running vertically or longitudinally upon said wall.

Edges of a wall may be reinforced by such inset or recessed member, the groove or recess running parallel and adjacent to said edge. Such inset or recessed member may even be a part of the front edge reinforcement of a wall such as the front edge reinforcement described in my application Serial No. 693,841, filed October 16, 1933.

The ball bearings are obviously maintained in position upon the lips 60 of the inset rail by the truck as above described. When the drawer is placed in the casing, its rails 6| are maintained in position upon the ball bearings by the fact that the drawer is constructed to match the casing and that the distance between rails 6| is equal to the distance between inset rails 4|. However, in collapsible containers constructed of fibrous material, there may be a certain amount of give in the material of which the containers are constructed and in the means for holding such containers in assembled position. The extruded flanges 56 and 61 along the groove 65 of the drawer rail 6| serve to position the ball bearings within the groove 65 of the rail 8| and to prevent the drawer rail from escaping the balls; so that the user of the drawer will always be assured that the drawer will ride on the ball bear'ings.

. However,.'othei' means may be utilized for insurin'g complete and permanent registry of the drawer rail 6| with the ball bearings 5|. Thus, as seen in Figures 4'and 5, a guide flange ll may be struck up from one of the flanges 45 of the inset r'a'ili; such guide flange nee only be of sufiicient height to engage and bear against the e'Xtruded'flange's 65 or 61 of the drawer rail 6| in the event that such drawer rail should have any tendency to slip from the ball bearings 5|. By mounting such a guide flange H on one of the flanges 45 of each of the inset rails 4|, the unihtended escape of the drawer rails 6| from the ball bearings 5| will be effectively prevented.

Likewise, prongs 12' (Figure '6) may be struck up from the truck 41; such prongs serving to capture the drawer rail 6| between them and preventingthe unintended escape of such drawer rail from the ball bearings during the operation of the'drawfer.

-Also," 'sr'nall flanges 13 (Figure 9) may be raised onthe tru'cl; 41 to accomplish the same purpose. Such small flanges 13 may be useful or desirable when'it is necessary tocreate slots 14 in the truck for purposes hereinafter described.

Where, in quantity production of my roller anti-friction devicaexact clearance or tolerances cannot be provided for economically, the ball bearings 5| may have a tendency to slip under the edges of the perforations 50 so that they will lie under the face, 49 of the truck 41'. Instead of machining the perforations 50 to. exact diameters, and designing the truck and inset rail to match with exact precise clearances, I have found it feasible to slit the face 49 of the truck 41 at 15, adjacent the edges of the perforations 50, preferably providng two such slits I5 at each perforation, one toward the rear end of the truck and one toward the forward end. The material thus freed by the slits may then be depressed to form small bearing surfaces 16 (Figure 7) which will prevent the balls 5| from riding under the edges of the perforations 50.

It will also be apparent that the ball bearing arrangement herein described may be provided for ordinary casings and drawers not originally equipped for friction reducing arrangement. Thus, the inset rail arrangement of Figure 1 may be mounted upon an insert pad which may be fastened in any casing by adhesive means, by prongs or other fastening means, by having the blank or insert pad slightly wider than the interior distance between the side walls of the casing to create a frictional engagement, Or by any combination of such means. Also, metallic strips may be supplied to be adhesively or otherwise attached to the bottom of the drawer to register with the ball bearing arrangement on the floor of the casing or on the insert pad therein. Or an entire bottom pad may be provided for attachment to any drawer, the pad having a remoistening adhesive surface, prongs or other means to facilitate attachment to the bottom of the drawer. Such pad may comprise merely a metal strip arrangement or a rail arrangement as in Figure 3. By thus shipping appropriate pads with ordinary casings and drawers, any type of casing and drawer combination may be fitted with my novel means herein described.

Means for providing a pluralit of rail or antifriction members secured along the .bottom of drawer and casing while nevertheless maintaining collapsibility can also be used.

The .ball hearing or true roller construction herein described is capable .of. many variations and modifications all within the spirit of my invention. Thus the inset rail 4| of Figures 1 and 4 may (instead of having the'specific formation therein shown or shown in Figures 5-9) have the formation shown in Figure 10 in which a groove of rectangular section 80 takes the place of the groove 59 in the other embodiments. The inset rail of Figure 10 is essentially similar to those of Figures 59 in that it has a base 52, inturned flanges 45 and a stop 56. I have found, however, that by properly dimensioning the rectangular groove 80, I can use disk roller 8| which roll freely along the bottom of the rectangular groove 88. Such disks 8| are captured and spaced by a truck 82, having flanges 83 which are positioned within the inturned flanges 45 and which thus serve to limit the motion of the truck as will now be understood. The upper face 84 carries slots 85 shorter in length than the diameter of the disks which thus capture and position each disk with respect to the rail while nevertheless permitting free rotation of such disks. In order to provide a suflicient bearing surface for the disk to ride against and to prevent their cutting into the truck, the material of the truck at eachend of the disk is curled to form the bearing 86 against which the disks may ride. Additional flanges or bearings may be provided along the sides of the slots to assist in maintaining the disks in erect-position. It is thus obvious that the disks 8| may roll freely along the bottom of the groove 80, being nevertheless held against within such groove by the truck 83.

The protruding portions of the disk 8| vmay cooperate with any suitablemeans on the bottom of the drawer, such as that herein described, or even with the drawer bottom itself to provide a relatively frictionless bearing surface upon which the drawer may ride.

I prefer, however, in this embodiment, of my invention, to form a rail at the bottom of the drawer substantially in the manner shown by the cross-sectional view of Figure 12, in which the drawer rail will be mounted upon the drawer in themanner already set 'forthin connection with other types of rails, but such drawer rail 81 will have on the under surface thereof a groove 88 of substantially rectangular cross-section which will cooperate with the disks 8|. Here, it will be seen, the drawer may ride frictionally on a true roller, and at the same time, by reason of the depth of the groove 88 be positioned with respect to such disks in a manner to prevent unintended or undesired escape of the drawer from the anti-friction means.

Aside from the fact that the inset rail herein described in several of its preferred embodiments serves also to reinforce the bottom of a collapsible container, without preventing the shipment of such container in knock-down con dition, it may also .be used in connection with rigid container and drawer constructions and may also serve to reinforce such constructions where the materials to be used are relatively weak.

The anti-friction means need not necessarily be confined to containers having a bottom wall; it may be used even in a three sided collapsible or rigid container as long as a mounting means is provided for the inset rails. The inset rails or other means against which the drawer rail operates may even be suspended from front and rear walls or from the side walls or from front and rear reinforcements or side reinforcements or any combination of the foregoing.

Having described my invention, I claim:

A friction reducing glide comprising a rail, inturned flanges extending longitudinally of said rail, a truck mounted upon said rail; flanges upon said truck; said truck flanges being captured by said inturned flanges and preventing lateral movement of said truck relative to said rail, ball bearings mounted upon said rail, perforations in the truck of less diameter than said ball bearings, capturing said ball bearings and permitting movement of said ball bearings longitudinally upon said rail; and slots in the face of said truck of greater diameter than said ball bearings.

PHILIP ZALKIND. 

